


Hearts Desire

by LicieOIC



Category: Doctor Who
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Light Angst, One Shot, Stuff that happened off-screen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-21
Updated: 2018-02-21
Packaged: 2019-03-22 07:03:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,236
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13758798
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LicieOIC/pseuds/LicieOIC
Summary: Written to accompany fanart: The Doctor is a coward, so he'll go to extreme lengths to tilt the odds in his favor. It's only *mildly* abusing his privilege as a Time Lord in order to obtain his hearts' desire.





	Hearts Desire

**Author's Note:**

> Written to accompany this painting I did - http://licieoic.tumblr.com/post/171139563779/hearts-desire-digital-oil-painting-inspired

 

“Ha! You’ve done it, old girl!” the Doctor crowed, fondly patting the console, maybe a little too aggressively, but he could hardly contain his excitement. “Brilliant!”

“What’s she done?” asked Rose as she made her way into the room, dressed and ready for the day’s adventure. 

She smiled sweetly at the Doctor and his mouth went dry. How she managed to make a plain gray sweatshirt look sexy, even his massive brain didn’t know. But then, Rose Tyler could wear a bin bag and he’d still find her undeniably attractive.

He cleared his throat and pulled at the bottom of his blue suit jacket, straightening out the creases. “Ah, the Tardis has located a very special planet and we’ve just landed!”

“Is that why you’re all dressed up?” she asked, teasingly touching her tongue to her teeth.

“Like the new suit, then?” he asked, puffing out his chest a bit, unable to refrain from preening just a little.

“It’s lovely,” she said. “But I feel like I’m going to be under-dressed.”

“Bah,” he said, waving that away with one hand. “You look perfect.”

Her cheeks grew rosy and she tucked a strand of her hair behind one ear. “Alright, then. What’s so special about this planet?”

He grinned from ear to ear. “Spores, Rose!”

She blinked. “Sp-spores?”

“Yes, spores!” He came around the console and grabbed his trench coat from the jump seat along the way, pulling it on as he led her to the doors. “According to the Tardis, this planet has the unique distinction of generating completely harmless airborne spores which will lead the subject to their hearts’ desire!”

Rose’s eyebrows lifted high. “That’s... amazing! But how?”

“I have no idea!” he said happily, fairly bouncing on his toes with his hand on the door handle. “Isn’t that exciting? Shall we find out?”

He didn’t wait for her answer, already knowing she was as curious as he was, and he took her by the hand as he opened the doors and led them outside.

The Tardis could not have picked a better place to land, they were standing at the top of a tall hill and, above them, the sky stretched long and impossibly blue, shimmering like a sea. Below them lay a long valley of spiky white grass which tinkled like glass as they walked through it. Trees were tall and very skinny with silver bark and a round cloud-like puff at the very top. They swayed gently back and forth in the cool breeze, a lazy, relaxing dance. The sun was beginning to go down in the distance, casting a warm hazy light across the various blues, turning the sky shades of fuchsia and violet along the horizon.

The Doctor removed his coat and spread it on the ground for them to sit on. Once they were settled shoulder to shoulder, they looked out to the impressive vista and waited, watching for any spores to appear. Just past the edge of the trench coat, Rose noticed a small patch of white flowers, all of them closed tight, like a sleeping Morning Glory on Earth. She reached out to gently touch one with the tip of her finger and the plant shivered before opening its petals, each one turning a beautiful pale pink.

“Oh!” she exclaimed as tiny pink lights began to pour from the flower’s center. “Doctor, look!”

She touched a second flower and the same thing occurred, the glowing lights beginning to playfully dance around Rose as they emerged, making her giggle. Curiously, the Doctor touched a flower to see if it would react the same way and it opened to a fiery red. He sonicked the flower as red lights began dancing about them, mingling with the pink.

“Huh!” he said, psychically reading the sonic’s results. “They’re empathic.”

“Like you?” she asked.

A fond half-smile teased the corner of his mouth. “Sort of. I doubt my abilities could lead you to your heart’s desire.”

“I dunno about that...” she mumbled, but before he could ask her what she meant, her eyes went wide. “Doctor, your--”

“Your hair!” he said at the same time.

As one, they each looked at their own tresses, the Doctor pulling down some of his artfully tousled fringe and almost going cross-eyed in order to see the color. Stunned, he stared at the most beautiful shade of ginger hair he’d ever seen. It definitely hadn’t been that color earlier. He found himself wishing he had a mirror in order to see it properly. Likewise, Rose’s hair had transformed into a lovely pastel pink and the little pink spores were weaving in and out through the strands like they were having the time of their lives.

“What’s happening?” asked Rose, not fearful but understandably caught off guard.

“I’m not sure,” he said, slowly, taking inventory of his senses. He didn’t feel ill, in fact, he felt completely normal. The only thing that had appeared to change was the color of his hair. 

At a loss for what was going on, he sonicked Rose’s hair and the little spores of light. Reading the results, he let out a long sigh, briefly closing his eyes. Considering his track record, perhaps he shouldn’t be surprised. 

“What is it?” she asked.

“Well...” he said, stretching out the word. “The good news is, they’re completely harmless and the color should be temporary. But apparently, I... didn’t read the Tardis’ screen closely enough. This planet doesn’t give you your hearts’ desire. It gives you... your  _hair’s_ desire. In other words, what you’ve always wanted your  _hair_ to be.”

Rose exploded into laughter and after a moment, the Doctor couldn’t help but smile too. It was a classic blunder and his own fault for not being more careful, but at least there were no harmful side effects.

“Well, congratulations, Doctor,” she said, grinning. “You’re finally ginger! Wasn’t that your hearts’ desire anyway?”

His expression froze for a fraction of a second. In the inner pocket of his suit jacket, the suit he’d chosen so carefully for this particular adventure, the small velvet box sitting inside suddenly felt as heavy as a rock. He’d been aching to give it to her for ages but had chickened out each time. What if she said no? What if she asked him to take her home? His hearts would break. He’d thought if the Tardis could find a way to help nudge Rose’s answer to the positive, he wouldn’t be so afraid to ask. But apparently, a planet that grants you your hearts’ desire was too good to be true.

“Yeah,” he said, his voice cracking slightly, making him clear his throat to try again. “Course.” Coward. Always the coward. He’d have to find another opportunity to ask her. Diverting attention before she could notice he wasn’t being entirely truthful, he nodded at her hair. “And you, Rose Tyler, have apparently always wanted to be a unicorn.”

She giggled, bumping his shoulder with hers. “You can show a girl all of time and space but in her heart, she’s still going to be that little kid with an empty toilet roll taped to her head, pretending to be a unicorn.” Her eyes lit up with sudden inspiration. “Is there a planet of unicorns somewhere?”

He smiled gently, enjoying her enthusiasm as always. “Let’s go find out.” There would be another time for him to lay his hearts bare.


End file.
